| Malignant Melanoma of the Vagina: A Report of 2 Cases |
| Ok Bae Kim, Jin Hee Kim, Young Yeon Jung, Chi Heum Cho, Tae Jin Choi |
1Departments of Radiation Oncology, Dongsan Medical Center, School of Medicine, Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea. obkim500@dsmc.or.kr
2Departments of Gynecology, Dongsan Medical Center, School of Medicine, Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea.
3Departments of Bio-physics Medical Engineering, Dongsan Medical Center, School of Medicine, Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea. |
|
|
|
|
|
| ABSTRACT |
|
Primary malignant melanoma of the vagina is an extremely rare genital neoplasm occurring mainly in postmenopausal women. It has a worse prognosis than cutaneous melanomas, because of the high rate of loco- regional recurrences and rapid systemic dissemination. In the past, radical surgical extirpation as the primary management had been recommended to improve loco-regional control, and possibly overall survival. However, the prognosis was poor in spite of such a radical approache. Recently, more conservative treatment such as wide local excision combined with adjuvant high-dose fraction radiotherapy seems to have promising results.
Primary radiation therapy could be served as an alternative to surgery for patients with lesion less than 3 cm in diameter. We report 2 cases of primary vaginal malignant melanoma treated with radiotherapy. |
| Key Words:
Malignant melanoma, Vagina, Radiation therapy |
|
PDF Links
Full text via DOI 
Download Citation 
